Rio man charged with homicide in drug overdose released on signature bond

Brad AllenJanuary 24, 2019

A Rio man charged with homicide after allegedly delivering substances that led to a drug overdose death was released from custody Wednesday on a $10,000 signature bond.

Dustin Michael Wangerin, 29, made his initial appearance with a defense attorney at the Columbia County Courthouse, where he is slated for a return date of April 2.

The felony conditions of the signature bond prohibit Wangerin from having any contact with a person allegedly connected to delivering the drugs upon his release from custody.

Wangerin is charged with one count of first-degree reckless homicide as party to a crime, as well as four separate counts of delivering a controlled substance.

Prosecutors say in September 2017, Wangerin delivered a combination of heroin and fentanyl to Markus M. Schultz in the town of Wyocena. The complaint says Schultz used the substances and died of an overdose.

According to a criminal complaint, authorities were flagged down by the victim’s brother Sept. 11, who said Schultz was not breathing and cold to the touch at a residence. A sheriff’s deputy responded to the scene and inside a locked box found a brown or tan substance that tested positive for heroin, fentanyl and ketamine.

Wangerin had asked Abel J. Langadorf on Sept. 10 to deliver money and substances to Schultz, according to the complaint. Langadorf allegedly told investigators he took about a gram of heroin to Schultz on Sept. 10.

The complaint says Langadorf told authorities he and Wangerin have bought heroin that is brown or tan in color from a supplier in Madison.

The homicide charge alone carries maximum punishments of $100,000 in fines and 40 years in prison.